Computer virus warrior Trend Micro (趨勢科技) received 150 calls yesterday from companies seeking help with a bug that has arrived just in time for the holiday season.
The "Navidad" worm comes in the form of an e-mail attachment. If opened, the bug renders temporarily inoperable applications such as Internet Explorer and Microsoft Office.
The worm then multiplies by resending itself to other computer users, looking up names in the infected computer's address book for potential victims.
According to Axl Yen (
The attachment, called "navidad.exe," is mainly in Spanish and was first discovered on Nov. 7 in South America by security experts at anti-virus firm McAfee.
According to Yen, the code's author attempted to lessen the worm's impact by offering a warning.
When the Navidad attachment is opened, a message in Spanish reads: "Nunca presionar este boton," or "never press this button."
If the button is pressed, another message says, "Feliz Navidad. Lamentablemente cayo en la tentacion y perdio su computadora."
Translation: "Merry Christmas. Unfortunately you've given in to temptation and lost your computer."
The worm then attempts to multiply by replying to e-mails residing in a computer user's inbox.
But Yen said that infected computers aren't actually damaged, though applications are left temporarily inoperable.
"The glitch created by Navidad is not as destructive as people would expect, but it may cause your Windows system to lock up," Yen said.
While Yen said the worm doesn't damage computers, he warned that Navidad spreads fast, especially in large corporate server systems where Microsoft's Outlook software is popular.
According to media reports, several Internet-related firms, big corporations, educational institutes, media and even the DPP headquarters were hit by the worm yesterday. Apart from Taiwan, at least 10 Fortune 500 companies have been infected.
To tackle the bug, two local antivirus companies -- Trend Micro and Symantec -- offer free software downloads over the Web.
BUSINESS UPDATE: The iPhone assembler said operations outlook is expected to show quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year growth for the second quarter Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday reported strong growth in sales last month, potentially raising expectations for iPhone sales while artificial intelligence (AI)-related business booms. The company, which assembles the majority of Apple Inc’s smartphones, reported a 19.03 percent rise in monthly sales to NT$510.9 billion (US$15.78 billion), from NT$429.22 billion in the same period last year. On a monthly basis, sales rose 14.16 percent, it said. The company in a statement said that last month’s revenue was a record-breaking April performance. Hon Hai, known also as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), assembles most iPhones, but the company is diversifying its business to
Apple Inc has been developing a homegrown chip to run artificial intelligence (AI) tools in data centers, although it is unclear if the semiconductor would ever be deployed, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. The effort would build on Apple’s previous efforts to make in-house chips, which run in its iPhones, Macs and other devices, according to the Journal, which cited unidentified people familiar with the matter. The server project is code-named ACDC (Apple Chips in Data Center) within the company, aiming to utilize Apple’s expertise in chip design for the company’s server infrastructure, the newspaper said. While this initiative has been
GlobalWafers Co (環球晶圓), the world’s No. 3 silicon wafer supplier, yesterday said that revenue would rise moderately in the second half of this year, driven primarily by robust demand for advanced wafers used in high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, a key component of artificial intelligence (AI) technology. “The first quarter is the lowest point of this cycle. The second half will be better than the first for the whole semiconductor industry and for GlobalWafers,” chairwoman Doris Hsu (徐秀蘭) said during an online investors’ conference. “HBM would definitely be the key growth driver in the second half,” Hsu said. “That is our big hope
The consumer price index (CPI) last month eased to 1.95 percent, below the central bank’s 2 percent target, as food and entertainment cost increases decelerated, helped by stable egg prices, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday. The slowdown bucked predictions by policymakers and academics that inflationary pressures would build up following double-digit electricity rate hikes on April 1. “The latest CPI data came after the cost of eating out and rent grew moderately amid mixed international raw material prices,” DGBAS official Tsao Chih-hung (曹志弘) told a news conference in Taipei. The central bank in March raised interest rates by